University Review
Education for the future
The pandemic era demands unprecedented innovation and a fresh approach to teaching and learning. With all classes conducted in both online and face-to-face modes, HKBU staff and students adapted to the "new normal" thanks to their flexibility and creativity. From identifying and developing new pedagogies to creating meaningful interactions among students and facilitating e-learning in a globalised setting, our educators worked hard to redesign their teaching plans in order to keep students' education and university experience intact.
Raising the bar for virtual teaching and learning
Transitioning to online and mixed-mode teaching
Building on its reputation for quality e-teaching and learning, the University has successfully moved its courses online in the past year. With the shift to mixed-mode teaching, resources were made available to faculty members through a one-stop e-learning support website, which offers training and information on various e-tools and online assessment methods, as well as up-to-date news on teaching and learning arrangements. Led by local and overseas educators, numerous professional development workshops and activities were also held to share best practices and issues that had arisen during the implementation of virtual teaching and learning.
HKBU has long offered a blended learning approach. Since establishing an online learning development platform in 2017-2018, our faculty members have developed 14 Small Private Online Courses with overseas partner institutions from 15 countries and regions, benefiting over 2,800 students from HKBU and other universities around the world.
New initiatives to enhance educational efforts
With the extensive use of new digital technologies, faculties and departments have turned the COVID-19 crisis into an opportunity to enhance the quality of teaching. One notable example is the "Scholarship Platform for Teaching and Learning in a Virtual Age", which was led by Dr Cissy Li and Dr Mable Chan (Language Centre). The platform offers traditional text-based information as well as audio and video content of innovative practices, and it also adopts the features of a discussion forum so that practitioners can interact and connect. Designed for language teaching professionals at universities in Hong Kong, it has the potential to lead the way in defining how pedagogic innovations and research are disseminated and shared.
At the School of Chinese Medicine, hands-on learning and clinical experience are a core part of the curriculum. In addition to in-person internships, the School has also offered an array of online training and pre-recorded video lectures from the internship instructors to enrich the students' clinical knowledge. Furthermore, students took part in an online service-learning workshop in April 2021, in which they designed a pain relief exercise routine for patients suffering from chronic pain. The workshop not only provided students with an invaluable opportunity to put their knowledge and skills into practice, but it also helped them develop effective doctor-patient communication skills.
Supporting the strategic development of virtual learning
Thirty HKBU projects and initiatives have been awarded funding from a grant for the strategic development of virtual teaching and learning (VTL) under the University Grants Committee (UGC). The University is also involved in six inter-institutional collaborative activities funded by the grant, which was set up to support UGC-funded universities in implementing various initiatives between 2021 and 2023, with the aim of promoting VTL development in the medium to long run.
Innovative pedagogical solutions
HKBU-led project team wins prestigious UGC Teaching Award
The Academic Integrity and Ethics-Augmented Reality team led by Dr Eva Wong (Centre for Holistic Teaching and Learning) (CHTL), received the University Grants Committee Teaching Award 2020 in recognition of its outstanding impact on student learning and achievement. The team introduced a unique pedagogy that uses augmented reality to present case-based scenarios of abstract issues of academic integrity and ethics. Since the project's inauguration in 2014, a total of 12 Trails of Integrity and Ethics, which cover ethical issues in various disciplines, have been established on university campuses in and outside of Hong Kong to introduce real-life situations to students in an innovative digital learning environment.
Gamified learning platform builds multicultural competence
CHTL led a technology-facilitated learning and teaching project named "Developing Multidisciplinary and Multicultural Competences through Gamification and Challenge-Based Collaborative Learning". Funded by the UGC from 2016 to 2020, the project helped students gain a better understanding of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals through taking part in eTournaments on an online gamified learning platform. It also enhanced students' online collaboration skills by encouraging them to work in cross-cultural and cross-disciplinary teams. The project has received a number of international awards, including the Silver Award in eLearning at the Reimagine Education Awards in 2020 and the Highly Commended Team Award at the Learning Technologist of the Year Awards 2020.
Students-as-Partners Scheme
To enhance the teaching and learning activities of General Education courses, the Students-as-Partners Scheme was launched. Under the Scheme, students partnered up with their course instructors in the design and development of teaching materials. They also gave feedback on the course delivery and syllabi, supported the learning of their peers, and organised class activities such as field trips. The engagement of student partners was beneficial to the staff-partners, the student-partners, and the students enrolling in the respective GE courses.
Developing innovative assessment approaches
The shift to online teaching and learning has presented an opportunity for the higher education sector to rethink its assessment approaches and strategies. HKBU and the Education University of Hong Kong have jointly established the Advanced Study Institute (ASI) to gather assessment specialists and initiate discussions on alternative/authentic assessment methods. Besides organising online seminars and monthly sharing sessions, the ASI also formed an interdisciplinary scholarly Community of Practice to advocate the implementation of technology-aided alternative/authentic assessment methods at the course level.
Global learning at home
Virtual international exchange and experiential learning
While the COVID-19 pandemic has created great challenges for the University's internationalisation efforts, it has also opened up possibilities for novel ways to carry out international exchange activities. During the past year, the University received an enthusiastic response from students in relation to inbound and outbound exchange programmes. However, most of the programmes were suspended as the pandemic worsened in different countries. HKBU responded swiftly to the ever-changing situation and it launched partial virtual exchange programmes in collaboration with 52 partner institutions from 20 countries and regions. Around 3,000 courses from partner universities were offered to our students, while 65 courses across different disciplines at HKBU were made available to the exchange students.
In addition to introducing new initiatives such as co-teaching, the University also created a virtual experiential learning platform, where HKBU students and their peers across the world engaged in a wide variety of activities such as business case competitions, adventure games and cooking challenges. To enhance students' global perspective, the International Office (IO) set up the Mini-IO, which consisted of a team of HKBU students who helped forge global partnerships with overseas student bodies.
New partnerships with top universities
Through strategic partnerships with leading universities, HKBU continues to develop students' global vision and promote the international standing and reputation of the University through the signing of 11 new student mobility agreements in nine countries and regions. Our faculties and departments also actively penned new agreements and created programmes with overseas universities. In particular, the Department of Biology collaborated with the University of Lincoln in the UK to launch a double-degree programme for Bachelor of Science students in 2021-22.
Gaining overseas work experience remotely
Overseas internship opportunities enable students to gain practical work experience while broadening their horizons. During the year, the University continued to connect students with overseas employers through virtual work attachment programmes. Internships were available in different countries and regions, including the UK, Australia, Canada, China, Italy, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam.. A unique virtual research internship opportunity was also established with The Hebrew University of Jerusalem in Israel.
Global Virtual Hackathon 2021
Virtual international exchange programmes have made it possible for students from around the world to work remotely with each other on projects. An excellent example is the Global Virtual Hackathon 2021, which was held in April. The competition aimed to address the sustainability of the "new normal" under the COVID-19 pandemic, and it brought together around 90 university students from 16 countries and cities who then devised innovative plans and creative solutions to the associated issues in 48 hours. With the theme "Hack for a Sustainable New Normal", the competition was organised for the second year in a row by the Department of Computer Science, School of Communication and Film, Centre for Innovative Service-Learning and Office of Student Affairs at HKBU in collaboration with West Virginia University in the US, Ritsumeikan University in Japan and the National Cheng Kung University in Taiwan.
Journalism students host news shows with worldwide partners
In December 2020, a group of International Journalism students from the Department of Journalism participated in the international news project "Global Campus Studio Live". They worked with peers from six overseas universities and virtually co-produced a series of online newscasts. Under the theme "Let's Talk Racism", these newscasts consisted of multiple shows put together by media students from around the globe, including Hong Kong, Canada, India, South Africa, the Netherlands, the US and the UK.
Partnering with the Hong Kong Tourism Board to showcase our city
The University joined hands with the Hong Kong Tourism Board to launch a cultural immersion project, in which our students planned and led guided tours that were livestreamed to an international audience. After learning essential skills such as storytelling and presenting through a series of training workshops, our students curated the tours around the neighbourhoods of Kowloon City and Wan Chai, and they introduced Hong Kong's culture to overseas students who were unable to travel.
Nurturing socially responsible future leaders
Service-Learning goes online and beyond
A vital component of HKBU's education is service-learning, and it integrates academic study with meaningful service to the community with the support of 249 community partners. The past year saw many activities going virtual, and despite the enforcement of social distancing regulations in different areas of our lives, the constraints and challenges around only fostered our staff and students' care for the community. A total of 53 service-learning courses were offered and more than 1,950 students served over 19,400 people in need. Through direct and indirect service as well as research and advocacy, HKBU students have been applying their professional knowledge and skills to make a difference to society. Among these innovative programmes, a few remarkable examples stood out.
Paying tribute to educators by writing Chinese song lyrics
In the lyric-writing class of Dr Chow Yiu-fai (Department of Humanities and Creative Writing), students from various disciplines were introduced to Chinese song lyric composition and writing. They were guided to create their own lyrics to songs which were then performed at a student-led concert that represented the final project of the course. After selecting "education" as the theme for the concert, the students interviewed different types of teachers and turned their real-life stories into songs. A total of 35 narrative songs were produced and performed at a behind-closed-doors concert which was livestreamed on online platforms.
Motion graphic videos deliver public education messages
Students who attended the new service-learning course on motion graphic design in the fall semester of 2020 produced a series of videos that deliver public education messages to different target audiences. Led by Mr Michael Robinson (Academy of Film), the students produced three-minute motion graphic videos on designated topics for several organisations. One of the videos, entitled Ambassador of Gas Safety, aims to educate children aged 10 or below on how to deal safely with a possible gas leak. The video has been posted on the online platforms of The Hong Kong and China Gas Company Limited (Towngas) so that children and parents can have access to such educational messages even in the time of the pandemic.
Connecting the elderly with the internet through eSports
Through an intergenerational service-learning programme, our students teamed up with secondary students from the Man Kwan QualiEd College and a group of older people, who were connected through the Haven of Hope Christian Service, to compete in an eSports competition. Participants of the programme engaged in a series of eSports training sessions, and they organised and took part in an eSports tournament in April 2021. The enthusiastic response from the participants showed that eSports has the potential to be used to help older people stay active, and it can also strengthen the dialogue between different generations.
Collecting oral histories to preserve our heritage
To capture and preserve the history and memories of iconic communities in Hong Kong, a group of HKBU students conducted an oral history project as part of an interdisciplinary General Education Capstone Course titled "Implementation of Service-Learning Engagement through Chinese Storytelling and Writing". Jointly offered by the Department of History and the Language Centre, the course was sponsored by the Tin Ka Ping Foundation. After undertaking a 12-week training programme, the students conducted interviews with older residents in Wah Fu Estate and Wong Tai Sin in March 2021. They then produced Chinese booklets containing the interviewees' stories and photos of the neighbourhood, or multimedia works such as videos, soundtracks and cartoons.
Collecting oral histories to preserve our heritage
To capture and preserve the history and memories of iconic communities in Hong Kong, a group of HKBU students conducted an oral history project as part of an interdisciplinary General Education Capstone Course titled "Implementation of Service-Learning Engagement through Chinese Storytelling and Writing". Jointly offered by the Department of History and the Language Centre, the course was sponsored by the Tin Ka Ping Foundation. After undertaking a 12-week training programme, the students conducted interviews with older residents in Wah Fu Estate and Wong Tai Sin in March 2021. They then produced Chinese booklets containing the interviewees' stories and photos of the neighbourhood, or multimedia works such as videos, soundtracks and cartoons.
Fostering creativity and wellness with art therapy
Dr Joshua Nan (Department of Social Work) led a new service-learning course that focused on using the creative arts to enhance mental wellness. Students participated in a series of art-making workshops, and they also spoke with professional art therapists to gain a better understanding of the healing power of art therapy. They then created their own artworks to express their views and issues that were dear to their hearts, and the resulting pieces were exhibited in a weeklong art exhibition on campus. The students also led guided tours to share their experiences with their peers.
Making a difference through social innovation
To engage students in social innovation, the Centre for Innovative Service-Learning and TriAngle, the co-working space on campus, organised the Social Innovation Makers Programme. By providing training workshops and activities on design thinking, students were guided to turn their creative ideas into practical solutions that can address issues in society. The Programme also partnered with non-profit organisations, businesses and professional bodies to enrich the students' learning.
In the pilot programme "Social Innovation Makers: Prototype Making Competition", students from various disciplines formed 11 teams to pitch and execute their social innovation ideas. They also had the opportunity to test their prototypes in the community. One of the student teams consisted of undergraduates from the Department of History and the Department of Government and International Studies, and they designed a treasure map as a creative way of preserving the history of Kowloon City.
Preparing students for the new era
Given the ever-changing nature of our increasingly complex world, HKBU is committed to developing academic programmes that can meet the diverse learning needs of students. In the area of the cinematic arts and creative media education, the Academy of Film introduced the new Bachelor of Fine Arts (Hons) in Acting for Global Screen programme. With an emphasis on integrating interdisciplinary knowledge, the undergraduate programme aims to meet the needs of stage acting, acting with the aid of media technology, acting for the screen, and social media in film industries.
To cater for the changing market needs in the new world, HKBU continues to launch new programmes in the 2021-22 academic year, including the Master of Science in Data Analytics and Artificial Intelligence and the Master of Science (MSc) in Drug Discovery (Modernization of Chinese Medicine).